NOAA
ORGANIZES RESCUE TEAM TO DISENTANGLE NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE:Rescue
Team Awaits Calm Weather as Whale Moves North off North Carolina Coast

Dec.
9, 2005 — The NOAA Fisheries Service
is leading a team of federal, state and non-profit biologists and scientists
to rescue an entangled North Atlantic right whale off the southeast
coast of the United States. Severe weather and ocean conditions are
keeping the team temporarily in port, however, the group is currently
tracking the whale using the telemetry buoy they attached Saturday to
the 75 feet of rope and fishing gear entangling the whale. The species
is the most critically endangered in the Atlantic with only about 300
in existence. According to Thursday evening and Friday morning estimates,
the whale appears to have moved north and is now located off the coast
of North Carolina. (Click NOAA image for larger view of attempts
to disentangle a northern right whale from fishing gear wrapped around
its body. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
[Podcast]

News
Audio of Barb Zoodsma (zohds-mah), a marine mammal biologist and
right whale recovery program coordinator for NOAA Fisheries Service
Southeast, speaking from the NOAA Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary,
in Savannah, Ga., on Dec. 8, 2005. (mp3)

The
entangled whale was first spotted last Saturday morning off the Georgia
coast during a routine aerial survey conducted by Georgia Department
of Natural Resources and Wildlife Trust. These aerial surveys are conducted
seasonally as part of a formal recovery plan designed to conserve North
Atlantic right whales. The aerial survey team alerted NOAA Fisheries
Service biologists who immediately assembled a response team.

"It
appears that both the pectoral flippers may be involved in the entanglement.
Those are very, very difficult to resolve, and then there is one rope
that is wrapping around from the right pectoral flipper over to the
left pectoral flipper across the back of the animal. And, that one appears
to be starting to cut into the animal," said Barb Zoodsma a marine
mammal biologist and right whale recovery program coordinator for NOAA
Fisheries Service Southeast. According to Zoodsma, many right whales
travel south during the winter to calving and nursery areas, and spend
summers feeding off the coasts of New England and Canada.

Zoodsma
said it’s very dangerous attempting to disentangle a right whale.
“These are feisty animals. One of their defense mechanisms is
to swing their tail around and strike at anything that may be threatening
to them.” (Click NOAA image for larger view of right whale
entangled in fishing line, which started to cut into the animal. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

The rescue
team made a second attempted to disentangle the whale on Monday, December
5. The team successfully cut away excess line trailing behind the whale,
however, bad weather and rough seas sent them back to port that evening.
The team will head offshore for a third attempt as soon as soon as possible.
Zoodsma said the entire disentanglement team is on standby and ready
to be activated as soon as the seas and weather calm.

The United States Coast Guard is also part of the rescue
team. During the disentanglement attempt on Monday, the Coast Guard
Cutter Kingfisher and its crew from Mayport, Fla. provided support.
The Kingfisher acted as a platform to perform the disentanglement from,
provided a hub for offshore communications with NOAA Fisheries Service
crews on land, and offered logistical and safety support for the team
while offshore.

The
North Atlantic right whale is the most endangered off American coasts.
After a period of intense whaling in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
the right whale was on the brink of extinction. Although whaling practices
have ceased, right whales face serious risks from ship collisions and
entanglements in fishing gear and marine debris. The North Atlantic
right whale population is now estimated at approximately 300 animals
and is listed as "endangered" under the U.S. Endangered Species
Act of 1973. Right whales and all other species of marine mammals are
protected under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. (Click
NOAA image for larger view of disentanglement team attaching a telemetry
buoy on a right whale in order to track it by satellite. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

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Fisheries Service is dedicated to protecting and preserving the nation's
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